The kindest gift of all

Alison Alcoba, Seattle, Washington, US:I have a collection of bits from our crows - toys mostly: a smashed Hot Wheels car, a plastic toy spinning top, a bright Cracker Jack token, a Donald Duck PEZ dispenser head, all left for us in the bird bath. We feed our crows peanuts, and our cat Black Bart used to play with the local crows. When Bart was killed by a coyote one early morning, it was the distress call of the crows that alerted us to what was left of his body. A week to the day after Bart died, we were awakened by a similar racket. When we went outside to see what the noise was about, there were about 40 crows in our yard, and below them, right on the spot where we found Bart’s body the week before, was the collar he had been wearing, complete with name tag. That was the kindest gift of all and it gave us closure.